Juncadella set to benefit from Williams Mercedes deal

Williams’ newly announced engine deal with Mercedes could pay off immediately for highly rated Daniel Juncadella.

The 22-year-old Spaniard was signed up by Mercedes for the DTM season in 2013, and he is also a development driver for the German marque’s Brackley based works Formula One team.

Just before Williams’ new V6 Mercedes deal for 2014 and beyond was announced, the Grove based team signed a sponsor agreement with Kazakhstan investment company TAK Group, to promote the capital Astana.

Juncadella, whose uncle is the former HRT team boss Luis Perez-Sala, is also sponsored by Astana.

And TAK Group’s Artur Ardavichus has been quoted by Spanish sports daily Marca: “It is difficult to get into Mercedes’ [F1 team] without special training.

“Therefore, Astana wants Dani to progress and gain experience with Williams, to prepare him to be an F1 driver with Mercedes.”

That could mean Juncadella gets to drive Williams’ Renault-powered 2013 car at Silverstone in July, for the young drivers’ test.

But Marca admitted that Juncadella, refusing to confirm the Williams test rumours, was “surprised” by Ardavichus’ comments.